Incident at Western View Junior High
by FreyOfDavis
Summary: Violet saves the day at her school, but has trouble dealing with the aftermath. Inspired by a realworld event.
1. Incident

I just bought The Incredibles DVD, watched it, and remembered how much I LOVED THIS MOVIE! I had to write a fan fiction for it, and I came up with this idea on my way to work one morning. It is "ripped from the headlines", specifically inspired by last year's school shooting at Red Lake High School in Minnesota.

This story takes place about six months after the events of the movie.

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The school building's hallway was full of teenagers, some moving with purpose, some just mulling around. The bell rang loudly. Violet Parr looked up from her conversation and closed her locker door. "That's second bell. We'd better get to class," she said to her two friends. She hefted her tote bag to her shoulder.

They all gave a little goodbye wave as they parted. "See you third period, Vi! Bye!" Her friends walked off together as Violet headed in the opposite direction towards her history class. Mr. Needleman wasn't exactly her idea of the ideal teacher, but she had to admit he knew his stuff. They were studying the Great Depression this week, and he had a way of –

_What was that?_ Violet stopped and listened. There it was again. It sounded like a sharp snap, as if someone had broken a dry tree branch in half. Then Violet heard the screaming. Several students came running down the hallway toward her, their faces twisted in fear. Violet watched them pass, and ran to where they were running from. She came to where two hallways crossed, close to the school entrance, and saw chaos. Books and papers were on the hallway floor where students had dropped them, and several locker doors had been left open. Students were running every which way, but she couldn't see what they were running from. Violet heard more sharp snaps, and recognized them as gunfire, probably from a pistol. Looking towards the sound, she saw a figure in dark clothing moving deliberately and slowly down the hallway. From time to time, he'd raise his arm, and another snapping sound would be heard.

Vi heard a moan, and turned around to see a middle-aged, well-built man lying on the ground. His blue security uniform was stained with blood on the chest, and he was having difficulty breathing. Violet knelt next to him. "Mr. Stalcup! What's happening? Are you OK?"

The older man laughed grimly, his face grimacing with the pain. "Well, Violet, like the man said, I'm pretty fucking far from OK. He came in, walked through those doors, and just started shooting. I tried to stop him, but . . ." He looked down at himself. "Oh, God, I'm going to die."

Violet hurriedly took off her jacket, the red one that had been a present for her birthday last year. She tore off Mr. Stalcup's shirt and saw the wound where the bullet had entered. It was a fairly large hole, probably from a 9-millimeter. She pressed her jacket on to the wound to staunch the bleeding. "You're not going to die! You're not going to die!"

Mr. Stalcup was finding it harder to speak. "Violet, you have to warn the others. He's shooting everyone in sight. He'll kill everyone. You . . . you have to get them out of here."

Violet hesitated, then looked around. She saw a student cowering in a corner, softly whimpering. She pointed at him. "You! Come here." When the student didn't respond, Violet yelled. "Now! He needs help!" The student complied, and crawled across the hall floor to Violet. He seemed to be a year younger than Violet, and he looked around nervously. Violet looked him straight in the eyes. "Listen to me. Stay here with him." She indicated Mr. Stalcup. "Keep pressing on his wound, and keep him awake! Help will be here soon."

The student took her place on the floor as Violet stood up. "But, but, but what if he comes back!"

Violet knew he was referring to the gunman. She looked down the hall towards where he had gone. "That's not going to happen," she said with determination in her voice.

---------------------------------------------------B------------------------------------------------------

The gunmen walked down the hallway laughing to himself. This was turning out better than he'd thought. They weren't ignoring him now. He wasn't a nobody anymore. Now, he was feared. He spotted the classroom he was looking for, Room 112. He put a new clip into his semi-automatic pistol and flung open the door. He pointed his gun at the teacher standing in front, causing her to cry out involuntarily. "Hello, everyone! I'm afraid your class has been interrupted due to technical difficulties. Nobody move!" He swung the gun around to cover the class, and pulled another, smaller one out of his waistband. "It's hard to pass the final when your brains are splattered on the floor." He smiled again. "Well, well. Honors English class. The smart kids. The cool kids. A world away from remedial English, isn't it, Mrs. Hogel? First period must be your favorite time of day."

Jenny Hogel, a ten-year veteran of teaching high school kids, managed to regain some of her composure. She was very aware of her right knee shaking, and hoped no one noticed it. "Listen, Calvin, calm down. You're upset. Whatever problems are bothering you, we can talk about them. We can help you."

Calvin turned to Mrs. Hogel, pointing his gun straight at her face. "A little late for that. I needed help before, and –"

Calvin swung around quickly to the husky blonde boy who was trying to rush him. He shot him quickly in the leg just above the knee, and the boy went down with a thud. A gasp went up from the class. The husky boy was clutching his thigh in pain and cursing Calvin. Blood began seeping from between his fingers. Calvin knelt over him to examine his handiwork, still covering the others with his guns. "Looks bad, Mike. Guess you'll be missing the homecoming game, huh?" He surveyed the other students, enjoying the looks of fear in their faces, before he turned his attention back to Mrs. Hogel. "As I was saying, I needed help before, but you were too busy! Too busy with your pets!" He waved his gun to indicate the students. "It was always about what they needed, about giving them the best opportunities. And the rest of us were left behind, abandoned for the smart kids. Well, say goodbye to them." Calvin turned both his guns on the students and pulled the triggers repeatedly, too fast for anyone to react. The bullets sped towards the crowd of frightened students.

And hit a glowing force field. A teenage girl with long dark hair, wearing a mask and a red uniform with a large "I" on it, stood at the back of the room with her hands up in front of her. Calvin cursed and turned his gun on Mrs. Hogel. She heard the shot, and screamed, but then realized that the bullet hadn't hit her. She opened her eyes to find herself protected by another force field. The girl known as the Shield (secret identity: Violet Parr) yelled at the class, "Everybody get out now! I'll cover you!"

Mrs. Hogel was the first to react. "Everyone, out the back! Come on!" Students started exiting, and one of them leaned down to help Mike, whose leg was now bleeding profusely. The Shield looked, and recognized the handsome student helping his friend. _Tony_, she thought, and remembered that Tony Rydinger was taking Honors English this term. Tony helped Mike up, letting him lean on him, and nodded a thanks to the teenage superheroine as he passed her. Violet turned her attention back to the gunman, who fired his guns again, but the force field still held.

He watched the students run out of the door in frustration. "Damn you, Shield!" He fired once again at the force field, with the same result.

The Shield made certain the classroom was clear before speaking. "Put your guns down now. It's over." She looked closer at the gunmen and recognized him. "Calvin?"

After the initial surprise of the Shield's interruption, Calvin's voice was calmer now. "Well, what do you know, the Shield knows my name. You know, I should be pissed, since you spoiled my fun, but that's OK. I guess I've had enough. They don't be forgetting me anytime soon, that's for sure. I figured the cops would come, but I honestly didn't expect a super. I guess I should be honored."

The Shield moved her field so that it surrounded Calvin. "That's right. It's an honor. Now put the gun down. It's over. You can't shoot anyone else."

Calvin grinned. "Well, you're almost right." He suddenly rotated the gun so that the barrel was under his chin, pointed upward.

"Calvin, no!" Violet attempted to collapse the field, so that it would stand between the gun barrel and Calvin's head, but she was too late. There was another snapping sound, and Calvin fell against Violet's force field, his upper body hanging a foot off the ground for a second before the field collapsed entirely. Calvin's body hit the floor, his head oriented towards Violet. It lay unmoving.

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	2. Mr Incredible to the Rescue

Bob Parr sat down at his desk. He knew he'd never truly be happy doing office work, but this job was certainly better than the last one. Larger office (although still too small for his large frame), a nicer boss, and best of all, his job was to help people. After the Syndrome incident, the government had found him a job as personnel manager for a law firm. He liked the employees he worked with, and his experience in insurance proved invaluable when the company had to find a new health plan. Dealing with lawyers, especially the younger ones, was often trying, but they usually left him alone to do what he thought best. As long as he kept expenses down, they trusted his judgment. Bob started work on an employee memo about the upcoming Halloween party, and was just finishing when his phone rang.

"Peterson, Ward, and McGiver law offices. Bob Parr speaking."

The voice of Helen Parr came over the phone. "Bob."

Bob smiled. "Hi, honey, what's up?" _What happened, did I forget my lunch? Or does she want to get something from the store on the way home?_

Helen's voice was high-pitched and frantic. "Bob, turn on your radio. There's been a shooting at Violet's school!"

"What!" Bob leaped up and flicked on his radio. Normally he left it off, but sometimes he turned it on in the afternoons to catch the news, half-listening while he did his work. This time, however, he gave his full attention as the radio crackled to life.

". . . several students running from the main building. Witnesses say there is one gunmen armed with at least two pistols. He's apparently shooting randomly. We don't have an ID on the gunman yet, but the police have just arrived and are surrounding the school. We don't have confirmation on any casualties, but it appears that one security guard and at least two students have been shot."

Bob felt like his heart was being squeezed in ice. He heard his wife's voice over the phone. "I'm headed over there, but I've got Jack-Jack with me. I can't go as Elastigirl."

Bob understood, and now that he had a course of action in mind, he felt his heart start to beat again. "Got it. I'm on my way."

He started to put the phone down when he heard Helen's voice again and put it back to his ear. "Be careful. I love you."

"I love you, too. I'll bring her back!"

Bob hung up the phone and went to his boss' office. He forced himself to breathe slowly as he went. It was only a short walk down the hall, and the secretary, an attractive short-haired woman in her early thirties, looked up and greeted him with a smile. "Hi, Bob. What's up?"

"Hi, Carolyn. I need to see Mr. Peterson. It's kind of important."

Carolyn reached for her phone. "I think he's going over his closing statement for court this afternoon." She pressed a button and spoke, "Mr. Peterson, Bob Parr is here to see you. OK." She put the phone down and looked at Bob. "You can go right in."

"Thanks, Carolyn." Bob pushed through the door to find Harvey Peterson, Esquire, a man in his early fifties with a receding hairline, standing at his window and making notes on a legal pad. He looked at Bob as he entered. "Bob, what can I do for you?"

"Mr. Peterson, I really need to leave the office for a while. An emergency's come up."

"Well, when will you be back?"

"I don't know."

"What's the emergency?"

"There's been a shooting at my daughter's school. I have to go there right away."

"A shooting?" Mr. Peterson was shocked for a moment. But only for a moment. "OK, go. Take care of business. We'll muddle through without you."

Bob was already half out the door. "Thank you, sir!" he called back. Bob rushed to the exit and down the stairs to the parking lot. He was very thankful that his boss was OK with him going. If he had said no, he wasn't sure what he would have done. He only knew that nothing was going to stop him from protecting his little girl.

He got into his car and put on his mask. "Showtime," he said as he started his car and drove out.

B------------------------------------------------

Mr. Incredible arrived at Western View Junior High School about fifteen minutes later. The police had cordoned off a large section of the neighborhood around the school, and patrolmen were holding the perimeter, trying to reassure all of the frantic parents. Mr. Incredible parked his car and walked to the line of policemen. They immediately parted to let him through. Police cars were everywhere, and several helicopters were buzzing overhead. He spotted the captain by the command car, in conference with another officer and looking at a blueprint of the school, and walked over. The captain looked up. "Ah, Mr. Incredible. I'm glad you're here."

Mr. Incredible shook the captain's hand. "Hey, Sully. What's the situation?"

"Well, we're pretty sure we're dealing with one gunman, a student. Witnesses have identified him as Calvin Dobbins, a 10th grader. The last we heard, he was in Room 112," he pointed at the room on the blueprint, "and the Shield had him cornered."

Mr. Incredible was startled. "The Shield?"

"Yeah, she got here soon after the shooting started. She shows up, saves a classroom of students, tells them to evacuate, and the last anyone sees, she and Dobbins are facing off. We haven't heard any shots for a while now. It may all be over." Captain Sullivan pointed to the man standing next to them. "Mr. Incredible, Lt. Jenkins. He's in charge of our SWAT team, I was just about to send him and his boys in."

Mr. Incredible shook the lieutenant's hand. "Mind if I go in with you?"

Jenkins hesitated. Sullivan saw this. "Dan, this ain't the time for a turf battle. You have the best SWAT team in the state, but Mr. Incredible is almost invulnerable, and there are kids' lives at stake. Besides," Sullivan said, slapping his hand on Mr. Incredible's massive shoulder, "he's had a lot of practice."

Mr. Incredible grinned. "Back in the day, eh, Sully?"

"Back in the day. When we had fewer pounds and more hair." Sully turned back to look at the school buildings. "And we didn't get crap like this." The captain turned back to the two men, his smile replaced by a grimly serious look. "Mr. Incredible will go in. SWAT will be right on his tail. Cover his ass." The last sentence was directed at Lieutenant Jenkins, who nodded.

Mr. Incredible spoke up, "What about explosives? Could the kid have planted any?"

"After we got the ID, we had his house searched. No bomb paraphernalia, no components. Only gun stuff."

"Only guns, huh?" Jenkins looked at Mr. Incredible. "Well, I don't know about you, but I feel a whole lot better."

"Can the sarcasm," Sully growled. "When can your team be ready?"

"Two minutes."

"All right. Go." As Lieutenant Jenkins and Mr. Incredible moved off, Captain Sullivan turned his gaze back to the school, putting a pair of binoculars to his eyes. He didn't see movement in any of the windows. If anyone was still in there, they either weren't moving, or weren't able to move. Sully put the binoculars down. "Damn," he said to himself.

B----------------------------------------------------

Lt. Jenkins and Mr. Incredible crouched behind the car closest to the school, with two members of the Metro City SWAT team behind them.. They had a clear line of sight to the entrance. Everyone was in position. Time to move.

"All teams go!", Jenkins said into his headset, and ran for the door, his gun up and his head down. All around the school, other officers were doing the same thing, going into every entrance to cut off any escape route the gunman might try. Mr. Incredible ran up the steps and reached the entry doors first, paused to allow the policemen to catch up, and flung the doors open. He headed straight for Room 112, running down the hall. Jenkins ran to keep up, his eye peeled for threats. The others were more methodical, checking every room for bad guys. Mr. Incredible got to the room and burst through the door. He charged into the room, ready for anything.

The room was full of empty desks in disarray. There were books and notes on the desks and on the floor where students had abandoned them in their escape. Mr. Incredible's throat tightened when he saw the body. It was a teenage boy, dressed in black, lying face-down on the floor in the middle of the room. He was lying in a pool of blood, and there was a semi-automatic pistol at his side. Mr. Incredible knelt down near the body. The eyes were open, and devoid of life. It was then that he first heard quiet sobbing.

Mr. Incredible got up and looked around. The crying sounded like it was coming from the back of the room. He stepped over the body, being careful not to step in the blood. "Shield? Are you all right?" Jenkins came into the room behind Mr. Incredible, his weapon at the ready. He saw the body and checked it.

Mr. Incredible ignored him. "Shield? It's OK, honey. It's over."

The Shield rematerialized at the back of the room where she had been sitting, invisible, since Calvin had shot himself. "Daddy?" Her face was wet with tears.

Bob Parr started to breathe again. "Oh, thank God." He knelt down and wrapped her in his arms. "It's OK, sweetie. I'm here. Are you hurt?"

Violet shook her head as she hugged her father tightly. "No. He didn't shoot me." She found herself looking at Calvin's body. Lt. Jenkins was kneeling over it, speaking into his headset.

"I'm in the target room. Got a male DB, looks like Dobbins. All teams, report in."

"Team one, all quiet so far."

"Team two, found a couple of students hiding under their desks. They're clean."

"Team three, all clear."

"Team four, nothing to report. Heading in your direction."

Jenkins spoke back into his headset. "OK, finish the sweep and stay frosty until we're done. Check every corner." He looked at the masked teenage girl he knew only as the Shield. "Was he alone?"

Violet tore her eyes away from Calvin's body to look at the SWAT leader. "Yes. He was all alone."

Mr. Incredible helped his daughter up. "C'mon. Let's get out of here." He turned to Jenkins. "Can you handle things from here?"

Jenkins was looking down at the body. "Looks like a job for the detectives now." He looked back up at Mr. Incredible. "Thanks. It was good working with you." He stuck his hand out.

Mr. Incredible shook it. "Such as it was. See you around." Mr. Incredible turned and left the classroom, his arm wrapped around his daughter. As he left, he saw the other members of the SWAT team converging, finishing their sweep, apparently having found no other threats. _I guess that's that. Thank God_. Mr. Incredible looked down at his daughter. "Where'd you leave your civvies?"

The Shield looked up at her father with a weak smile. "Girl's bathroom."

"OK. Are you sure you're all right?"

_No, I'm not!_ "I'm fine, Dad."

B------------------------------------

Violet Parr rejoined her class. All non-injured students were outside on the lawn, organized into their homeroom classes for a head count. Violet was the last one to join them. She was relieved to see all her classmates there, and they were relieved to see her.

"Violet!" her teacher exclaimed. "Oh, thank goodness. Where were you? Are you OK?"

"I'm fine, Ms. Kingery. I hid in the closet until it was over. Mr. Incredible came and found me."

"Good." Anita Kingery raised her voice to address her charges. "All right, everyone! Your parents have been called, and they'll be here soon to pick you up. Classes are cancelled for the rest of the day. No one is to go back into the school building for any reason."

"But what about our stuff?" one boy asked.

"Until the police say different, this school is now a crime scene. They promise they'll be done as soon as they can, but until further notice, the school is closed. The police will want to talk to you all later, but don't worry, it's just routine. For now, go home. Be with your parents. That's all."

A few students stuck around to ask Ms. Kingery more questions, but Violet wasn't among them. She was very tired all of a sudden, and put her bag over her shoulder and left to find her mom. When Violet found her mother, she didn't say much, and she was very quiet on the way home.

E-------------------------------------

More chapters coming soon!


	3. Night's Revelations

Sorry, everyone, for the late update. My job takes up a lot of time and energy. It's the curse of the day gig. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, including:

Everyone who sent in alternate names for Violet the Super. All good suggestions. I'll stick with the Shield for now, but I still might change it if something sounds more appropriate. I got a couple of suggestions for Envision as a new name. It sounds really cool, but it doesn't really say anything about the super. It makes her sound like a psychic (Maybe it's a latent power)

Concolor. Everyone's review spurred me on, but your review give me a little kick when I needed it to finish chapter 3 and put it out. I'm looking forward to hearing what you think.

I forgot to mention it before, but I do not own The Incredibles. Or the Flash.

B-----------------------------------

Waiting outside his school, Dash saw his mom's car come to the curb for him. He ran over and got in. He greeted his mom in the same way he had every day for the past two weeks. "You know, if you'd let me just run home, you wouldn't have to keep picking me up like this. It'd save you a lot of time."

Helen smiled indulgently at her son. She was actually grateful for the routine annoyance this time. Violet hadn't said anything since she got home. "Dash, we're back to being active superheroes, but we still have to keep it secret."

"But I'll wear my uniform! Pleeease?"

"Dash, if people notice that Junior Flash is leaving from your school every day at three, someone will figure it out. That's an extra clue to our identities that we don't need to leave."

Dash looked out the window grumpily. Not that he'd expected her to say yes this time, but it was still disappointing. And Junior Flash? Why did the public have to give him that name? He'd never met the guy. He watched the suburban scenery going by, and realized it was different from usual.

"Hey, this isn't the way to Violet's school. Aren't we going to pick her up?"

"Well, Violet had to go home early today. There was a little problem at her school this morning."

"So she got most of the day off? Lucky."

Helen hesitated, but she knew she'd have to talk to Dash about it sooner or later, and it was better to do it sooner. "Dash, the reason Violet's school was closed was that a student brought a gun to school and shot some people."

"What? Why?"

"No one really knows."

"Well, is Violet OK?"

"She's fine, honey. She was able to stop him before he killed anyone. But, she's still recovering from the incident, so we'll need you to be understanding if she's a little moody." Helen stopped the car at a red light.

"When isn't she moody?"

Helen's voice grew a little stern. "Dash. Violet needs you to be on your best behavior. No arguments, no little brother antics. OK?"

"OK."

"OK."

Helen turned her full concentration back to driving as the light turned green. _That wasn't so bad,_ she thought, not noticing that Dash was quiet on the way home, almost as quiet as Violet had been.

B-----------------------------------------------------

Bob Parr got home early that evening. He found Helen on the couch in the living room, sewing a rip in a pair of Dash's pants. "Hi, honey," he said, leaning down to kiss his wife.

"Welcome home. Was everything OK at work?"

Bob set his suitcase down and sat down in the easy chair. "Oh, yeah. Mr. Peterson was very understanding. Turns out he's got a daughter not much older than Violet. Anyway, I was only gone for an hour. It was all over by the time I got there. How's Vi?

Helen put her sewing down. "Quiet. She's barely said a word since we got home. She's in her room now."

"I guess she's still pretty shook up. Did she tell you that the guy shot himself right in front of her?"

"I heard it on the news. At least that was the only fatality. She did well."

Bob was looking in the direction of Violet's room. "She did." He looked back at his wife. "Have you started dinner yet?"

"No, I was waiting for you to come home."

"Well, I was thinking maybe we should go out tonight."

Helen nodded. "Good idea. Something special is just what this family needs."

Bob got up. "Let me put my work stuff away, and then we can go." He picked up his briefcase and headed towards the den.

Helen got up and left the living room. She went down the hallway and found Violet's room, with the door closed. She knocked softly, and the door opened, revealing Violet. "Hi, sweetie. You OK?"

Violet went back to sitting on her bed. "I'm fine, Mom. Is Dad back? I thought I heard him come in."

Helen nodded. "He's home from work. He wants to take us out to dinner tonight. Where do you want to go?"

Violet hesitated. "Mom, if it's OK, I'd rather not."

"You don't want to go to a nice restaurant?"

"Right."

"Vi, it's been a rough day for you, and going out to dinner may be just what we need to get our minds off of it."

Violet looked at her mother incredulously. "Rough day? Rough day!"

Helen realized that she'd struck a nerve. "Vi, calm down."

Violet wasn't listening. "Mom, I was right there in front of him, as close as I am to you! I thought I had him, and he … he…" Violet looked down, and put her hand in front of her eyes. Her expression showed she was trying to keep from crying.

Helen stepped forward and put a hand on her daughter's shoulder. Violet shrugged it off, and regained her composure. Her hand came down from her eyes and she looked at her mother. "Mom, I appreciate what you and Dad are trying to do, but if we go out to take my mind off of today, then it will just remind me that I need my mind taken off of today. I just want a normal evening, normal dinner, just … normal. Can you understand that?"

Helen nodded. "OK. I guess I understand. I'll warm us up some soup. Sound good?"

Violet managed a weak smile for her mother's benefit. "Great." She went back to sit on the bed.

Helen turned to go, then turned back. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Violet picked up the magazine she had been reading. "No, I don't."

"OK, sweetheart. I'll call you when dinner's ready." Helen left the room and pulled the door so that it was left open a crack. She started to walk to the kitchen when a four-foot tall blur whizzed right in front of her, startling her. "Dash, slow down inside the house!" she yelled at her exuberant son, who was now nowhere to be seen.

B--------------------------------------------------

Dinner had been very quiet. Bob talked about his day at work, but that went only so far. Violet didn't say a thing, and Dash was uncharacteristically silent. Even the baby seemed to have caught the mood.

After dinner, Bob was in the kitchen washing dishes. Normally they used the dishwasher, but Helen know that Bob did the dishes himself when something was bothering him. She moved behind him and hugged him tightly "Maybe that's why people get married. To have someone to worry with."

Bob smiled at his wife's observation. She knew him pretty well, all right.

Helen moved so she was next to Bob. She rubbed his arm in a reassuring way. "Bob, she'll be OK."

"Oh, I know that." Bob finished drying the last plate and set it down. "It's just that this was the first time since Syndrome that she tackled a bad guy on her own, and it had to be one of her own classmates. And then he had to commit suicide in front of her. Not the way I would have wanted it to happen."

"At least she stopped him before he killed anyone. That would have been worse."

"True."

The phone rang. Bob picked the receiver up. "Hello, Parr residence. Yes. Oh, hello, Principal Weisz. Yes? Oh, good. That's a relief. Yes, I'll tell her, she'll be happy to hear that. Yes, she is. Oh, she's OK, a little shook up, but OK. Thanks. Good night." Bob hung up the phone and looked at Helen. "That was the principal at Violet's school. That security guard that Violet took care of, Mr. Stalcup? He's out of surgery, and he's going to be OK. Full recovery."

"Thank goodness."

"Yeah. I'll go and tell Violet. Might cheer her up." Bob left the kitchen and Helen started putting the cleaned dishes away.

Bob found his daughter's door closed. He knocked softly. "Honey? It's Daddy. Mind if I come in?"

Violet opened the door. She was already dressed for bed in her nightgown. The lamp on her desk was turned on, indicating that she had been working on homework.

Bob didn't move to enter the room. "Good news, honey. I just heard from your principal. Mr. Stalcup's going to be OK."

"Oh, good." Violet was quiet for a moment. "At least I saved somebody." She went back to sit at her desk.

Bob entered the room. "Vi, you saved a lot of people today."

"Not everyone."

"Vi, there was nothing you could have done about that."

"Yes, there was."

"It happened too fast. Even we supers have limits."

Violet looked up at her father. "Dad, it has nothing to do with being a super. I could have saved him before. I might have prevented all this."

Bob sat on the bed, facing Violet. "What do you mean, honey?"

"Calvin wasn't just someone who I went to school with. He was a friend. We didn't hang out together that much, but we talked often, between classes, after school. I even had a crush on him when we were in 5th grade. When I started dating Tony, I don't know, I guess we drifted apart. It wasn't the same anymore. You see what I'm saying, Dad? Maybe if I'd put in an extra effort before, I could have helped him. I could have saved him before it came to this. If."

Violet fell silent. Bob looked at his daughter. "Sweetie, do you remember Syndrome?"

"Of course."

"Well, he wasn't always Syndrome. When I first met him, he was a little boy named Buddy. And he was Mr. Incredible's biggest fan."

Violet listened as her Dad began telling the story of a boy named Buddy and a villain named Syndrome.

B-----------------------------------------------------

Helen finished putting the dishes away and went to the living room to find Dash watching TV. He was flipping through channels quickly, so quickly that Helen could barely follow. Dash became frustrated with the selection and threw the remote at the wall. "Whoa," exclaimed Helen as she extended her arm to catch the errant controller. She turned off the TV and set the remote down on the coffee table. "OK, champ," she said as her arm returned to its normal length, "What's wrong?"

Dash turned away. "Nothing."

Helen sat next to her son on the couch. "Dash."

"Nothing's wrong."

"Is it about what happened to Violet today?" When Dash didn't answer, Helen continued, "Dash, Violet's just going through a rough time. She'll be back to normal."

"I know."

"Then what's wrong?"

"I …I don't know." Dash looked at his mother, then turned away again.

Helen looked at her son and thought for a moment. "I'm going to take a stab at this. I think what's bothering you is that Violet went up against a dangerous person today, and you weren't there to protect her."

Dash looked at his mom. Helen wrapped an arm around her son. "You know how I felt this morning? When I heard about the shooting, I wanted to just drop everything and go. But I couldn't, and it almost drove me crazy. I was frustrated, and angry, and I just wanted to lash out. Is that about how you felt when I told you about the shooting?"

Dash thought about it for a minute. "Well, yeah. I'm her brother. I'm supposed to be there for her."

Helen nodded. "You know what got me through it? I know that you kids are smart, and strong, and you know how to handle yourselves. Dash, part of caring about someone is having faith in them that they can take care of things by themselves if they have to. I have faith in Violet, and I have faith in you. And that faith wasn't misplaced. She did fine. And so will you, when you have to handle a situation alone. That won't stop me from worrying, but it will help me deal with it. The important thing for you to know is that she got through it and she's OK. OK?" She gave her son a hug, and she could tell that he felt better.

B---------------------------------------------

Violet hadn't moved the while time her father was talking. She could tell that the incident had had an effect on him. This was a side of him she had never seen before.

"So, while we did defeat Syndrome, and stopped his ultimate plan, sometimes I still wonder if things would have been different if I'd just been a little more understanding fifteen years ago. I thought a hard line would straighten him out, but it just made things worse. My point is, Violet, that we all make mistakes, it's just a part of living. And sometimes, the mistakes have consequences. Maybe you could have saved Calvin, maybe you couldn't have, we'll probably never know. But what you do is take that experience, learn from it, figure out how to do better the next time, and most importantly, get on with your life. A wise man once told me, 'It doesn't make much sense to worry about what you should have done. It makes more sense to think about what you're going to do next.'" Bob saw his daughter pondering this and nodding to herself. He leaned in a little closer. "Does that help?"

Violet thought about it, and for the first time since that morning, she seemed to get a hint of a genuine smile on her face. "You know, Dad, I think it does. Thanks."

Bob hugged his little girl. "Anytime, sweetie." He kissed her on the forehead and broke the hug. "It's probably time you went to bed. There's no school tomorrow, so sleep in as long as you need to."

Violet looked at the clock. "I think I will." She put her homework in her textbook and closed it. Bob went to the doorway, watched her pull the covers over herself, and turned out the light for his daughter. He went to the living room to find Helen and Dash watching a documentary on jet fighters, and soon he was as into it as his son was. An hour later, the Incredibles family was asleep for the night.

E--------------------------------------------------

The end? No way! It's going to take more than one heart-to-heart talk and a good night's sleep for Violet to get over this. Next chapter: Violet and Tony.

Please keep sending the reviews. You all are my editors, and we're working together to make this a better story. Thanks.


	4. Conscience

My thanks to all who reviewed, and mucho apologies for taking so long to post these last two chapters. I hope they were worth the wait.

The next day, Violet slept in. She came out of her room just in time to see her little brother finishing breakfast. Helen was taking the car keys from the hook on the kitchen wall next to the doorway when she saw Violet. "Oh, Vi, good. Can you watch Jack-jack while I take Dash to school?"

"Not a problem." Violet grinned evilly at Dash. "Have fun at school, little brother. I'll be thinking of you."

"Wipe that smile off your face, young lady. I'm told that you're studying the Great Depression in history class. Well, you're going to hit the books and tell me all about it tonight. We'll discuss the specifics when I get back."

A smiling Dash hefted his backpack and, when he was sure his mother wasn't looking, stuck his tongue out at Vi. An unsmiling Vi stuck her tongue out right back at him. As Helen and Dash went to the car, Violet started making breakfast for herself.

--------------------------------B----------------------------------------------------------------

After breakfast, Vi started going through her history book. The Parrs had a couple of books on American history as part of the family library, and she looked through those as well. She found it interesting that the sources differed in their opinions of the causes of the Depression. She was taking a break with her favorite magazine when a phone call came.

Violet took the phone from her mother and put it to her ear. "Hello?"

"Vi? Are you all right?"

"Tony? Hi! I'm fine! How are you doing?" Violet looked around to see her Mom going out the back door. Helen remembered her own teenage years well, and decided that now would be a good time to check the garden.

"I'm OK." Tony's voice brought her back.

"Good. Good." An uncomfortable silence followed. Violet tried to think of something to say, but nothing seemed right.

Tony spoke after a few moments. "So, listen. Some of us are going to be at the mall later on. You can come if you want."

"Oh, of course, I'll be there. That sounds like fun."

"Good. Well, I'll see you there." Tony hung up.

"Right," Violet said to a dial tone. She was a little puzzled. Normally Tony wasn't awkward like that.

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Violet got to the mall around 2 o'clock. She walked in and started looking around. She saw Tony, Kari and some of their friends hanging out in the central courtyard by the fountain, and happily walked over. Tony greeted her with a hug, and Violet joined the conversation. A couple of them had bought sticky buns, which they were sharing with the group. The conversation began to split, with the girls talking with the girls and the boys talking with the boys, so Violet was conversing with Kari and was caught unprepared by Tony's statement.

"At least the bastard shot himself and saved us the trouble."

Violet turned around, not believing her ears. It was obvious Tony was the one who had said it, and it was equally obvious from the nodding heads and looks of agreement that most of the other boys were of the same opinion. She looked at Tony. "How can you say that?"

"Look, Vi, you weren't there. I was. He held a bunch of us at gunpoint, terrorized us, and would have killed us all. He got what he deserved."

Another boy chimed in. "Yeah. Old enough to kill, old enough to die, right?" He looked around at the others, many of whom were nodding.

"But he was one of us, our friend."

Tony snorted. "I don't know about your friends, Vi, but my friends don't point a 9 millimeter at my face and pull the trigger. That kind of behavior tells me that they don't want to be my friend."

"But you can't just dismiss him like that." Violet started backing away from the group. "It's not right!" She turned and ran away through the crowd.

Kari called after her. "Violet!" Tony was about to run after her, but Kari stopped him. "Tony, maybe I had better talk to her. Violet!" Kari left the group and disappeared into the crowd.

She found Violet standing outside the mall. Kari put her hand on her friend's shoulder, and Vi turned around. Violet smiled.

Kari spoke slowly. "Don't you think that was a little harsh?"

Violet's smile vanished. "Don't tell me you agree with them? Calvin was our friend!"

"Vi, maybe they said some things they shouldn't have, but you're not being fair to them."

Violet's voice raised as she pointed at the mall. "They think he should be dead!"

Kari's voice raised as well. "Well, so do I!"

Violet was shocked into silence.

Kari sighed, and continued in a calmer voice. "Violet, you didn't see him. I did." She held up her left hand. "You didn't notice this, did you?"

Violet looked, and saw the bandage wrapped around Kari's hand. "When did you get that?"

"Yesterday."

Violet looked at Kari's face again. "He shot you?"

Kari nodded, unconsciously putting her hand back in her pocket. "I saw him when he first came in. We had just left you, and were passing by the school entrance. I noticed Calvin coming in, and raised my hand to wave hello. He raised his hand, too. With a gun in it. The next thing I know, I feel this hot pain in my hand and I can't move my fingers. After he shot me, he started through the halls, shooting. Violet, I got a good look at Calvin when he shot me, and it was like nothing to him. He didn't care. Remember how sweet Calvin was, how eager to please? Well, that Calvin was gone, replaced by an I-don't-know-what." Kari put her hand on Violet's shoulder. "Violet, I feel bad for him too, but that was not our friend. He had become someone else, someone without a soul."

Violet didn't speak. She shrugged off Kari's hand and ran away.

----------------------------------------------B---------------------------------------------------------

The phone rang at the Parr house. Helen came inside from the yard and picked it up at the fifth ring. "Hello?"

"Hi, Mom, it's me."

"Oh, hi, Vi. Are you having a good time?"

"Uh, yeah. We're all fine here. Mom, Kari asked me over for dinner. Is it all right?"

"Of course it is, sweetheart. Did you get some studying done this morning?"

"Yes, I read ten pages and outlined them."

"Good. We'll go through the outline tomorrow. You and Kari have fun. Be back by ten, OK?"

"OK." Violet hung up.

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Helen dished out her casserole to her men that evening. Dash dug in right away, and so did Bob.

"So Violet's over at Kari's?" asked Bob between bites.

"Yep," said Helen as she put some casserole on her own plate. "It's good for her to connect with her friends after something like this."

"She does seem to have bounced back quickly. I guess our little talk last night did the trick."

Helen was about to respond to Bob's boast when the phone rang. She went to answer it to hear Kari's voice on the other end of the line.

"No, Kari, Violet's not here. Isn't she having dinner at your house?"

"Well, no, Mrs. Parr. In fact, we sort of had a fight this afternoon, and I was hoping we could patch things up."

"But if she's not with you, where is she?"

"I don't know, Mrs. Parr. She was pretty upset when I last saw her."

"Thanks, Kari. I'm sure Violet's OK. See you later." Helen hung up the phone and looked at Bob and Dash. Both had stopped eating and were getting up from the table. Helen put her hand to her forehead, as if she had a sudden headache. "I can't believe this."

"Honey, it's OK. We'll find her."

A blur went to Dash's room and came back a second later, materializing into Junior Flash, the speed demon superhero. "Darned right, we will!"

Helen looked at her son. "Oh, no. You're staying right here, young man."

"But Mom!"

"I said no! Your father and I will find her."

"Honey," Bob spoke up, "you should stay here if she calls or comes home. And Dash can cover a lot more ground than we could."

"Mom, she's my sister. And you said you had faith in me."

Hearing her own words said back to her, Helen relented. "You call in the minute you find her. And you check in every five minutes and keep us updated. And you are back here, in person, every half hour."

"Let's go, champ," said Bob before his son could protest. He turned back to his wife. "Call Violet's friends and anyone else you can think of who might know something. We'll find her."

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The wrecking yard was dark and quiet. Old abandoned cars sat in rows, awaiting disposal. The two guard dogs, a German Shepard and a Rottweiller, heard a noise from the back gate. As they came closer, they picked up an odor from the intruder. Human. Female. And unfamiliar, which made the new arrival an enemy. They still hadn't caught sight of the invader, but they could zero in on her scent easily enough. The Rottweiller, being the more aggressive of the two, charged in, snarling. He was just about to pounce when he hit something he couldn't see, knocking him out cold. The German Shepard was more cautious, and seeing his partner taken down by something that wasn't there made him even more so. He could still smell the intruder, but it didn't seem human exactly. It was partly human smell, partly something else. He also heard a slight crackle in the air that he had never heard before. But he still couldn't see it, even though it was definitely close. Then came a terrible ruckus, like someone was smashing the cars with incredible force. This was too much. The dog retreated under the office trailer to wait out . . . whatever this was.

--------------------------------------------------------B---------------------------------------------

Dash was speeding along through town. He whipped past the railroad tracks on the north side, moving into an industrial area. He slowed down to get a better look at things. No one was around, and the area was quiet. _Dark and creepy_, he thought, _just the way Violet likes it._ After some looking around and finding nothing, he changed his mind. He was just about to head to another part of town when he heard a loud crash. He ran over to investigate. It seemed to be coming from a junkyard. He was across the street from the junkyard when he saw a junked car flip over on to its roof. Then a pile of stacked cars toppled over with a tremendous crash. Dash ducked behind a parked car and rubbed his eyes. Something was smashing the car from the top of the pile, which had settled on its side. Dents were appearing, and the roof was caving in, like it was being hit with a sledge hammer. But whatever was doing the damage was nowhere to be seen.

Dash ducked behind the car again and tapped his suit communicator. "Junior Flash to Mr. Incredible. Dad, I think I found her."

------------------------------------------------------B--------------------------------------------

Ten minutes later, a car pulled up. Mr. Incredible got out, and Dash waved from the entrance to the junkyard. When Mr. Incredible ran over, Dash pointed to the gate's lock. It had been popped open, even it though it still held the gate closed. Mr. Incredible turned to Dash, holding his finger over his lips in the universal sign for silence. Dash nodded and Mr. Incredible lifted the lock and quietly opened the gate. When they entered the yard, Dash pointed to where he had seen Violet's work, but Mr. Incredible could hear it now for himself. He crept up to see the cars being smashed by a still unseen force, and tip-toed back to Dash.

"OK, son. Good work. Go home and tell your Mom. I'll handle it from here. I'll bring Violet back soon."

"What? How soon is "soon"?"

"When she's ready."

------------------------------------------------------B------------------------------------------------

Violet threw another force ball at the wrecked Pontiac. A part of her knew this behavior wasn't exactly ethical, and she felt a little ashamed of herself for acting this way, but the large majority of her didn't care. She was so angry she didn't even know she had started screaming.

"Damn you!"

She generated a force ball underneath the car and grew it until the car went over on its side. With an angry cry, Violet slammed the force ball against the car and it flipped completely. "Calvin, you bastard!"

She realized force balls weren't helping anymore. She turned her full attention to shouting. "Calvin, you tried to kill them! What happened to you? I wish you had survived, so I could strangle you! The hell with being the good guy, I'll kill you!"

The sound of her words hit her, and the fury of the last half hour started to catch up with her. Her shoulders slumped a little, and she shouted to the sky again. "I wanted to kill you!"

She sank to her knees. Tears of shame started coming down her face. She was suddenly very tired, and didn't hear her dad come up.

She was startled by the sight of his shadow, and turned quickly. "It's OK, honey, it's Daddy," Mr. Incredible said.

Violet didn't say anything. She stood for a moment, and launched herself into her father's arms. Mr. Incredible held her silently and let her cry it out. When she seemed to be done, he started walking her towards the car, closing the gate on the way out.

"Dad, what about the damage?"

"I'll come by in the morning, and explain things to the owner. It'll be fine."

"OK."

-------------------------------------------------------B-------------------------------------------

She didn't speak all the way home. When they opened the door, her mother made the expected fuss. Once Dash saw his sister's safe return, he allowed himself to be hustled off to bed. Bob took charge of overseeing that while Helen called Kari to assure her that Violet was OK. Violet herself waited in the living room quietly. She knew a very stern talking to was coming, and she didn't have the energy to try to avoid it.

Finally, Bob and Helen came into the living room and sat down. They were silent for a moment, and then Helen began talking.

"Your father told me what happened."

Violet looked at her mother. "Mom, am I a bad person?"

Helen moved over to put an arm around her daughter. "No, honey, you're not."

Violet leaned on her mother, then buried her face on Helen's shoulder, crying. Between sobs, it all came out. How, when she saw Calvin threatening her friends, her boyfriend, for a moment she wished him dead. She wanted to just strangle him with a force field around his neck, and make him suffer. The feeling was only momentary, and once the other students were safe, she focused on trying to capture him alive, of course. But still…

"What if I was too slow on purpose? I mean, I tried, I know I tried to put the force field between the gun and his head, but what if, subconsciously, I wanted him to kill himself. Mom, what if I let him die?"

Bob spoke up. "Sweetie, listen to me. We've been practicing with your field control for months. You know better than anyone how fast you are. Now, when you were talking with Calvin, in the force bubble, he had his gun like this, right?" Bob held his hand, with the index finger and thumb pointed to mimic a pistol, at a 45 degree upward, close to his chest.

"Right. Maybe a little higher."

"Maybe a little higher. Well, watch." Bob quickly moved his hand so the index finger was pointed straight up at his chin. "How long was that? One second? Two?"

Violet shook her head. "One second. At most."

"One second, probably less. That's how long you had to see what he was doing, figure out what to do, and do it. Now, you tell me. Do you think you could have stopped him?"

Violet thought about it, trying to think of something, some way her dad might be wrong. She finally said, "Probably not."

"Certainly not," Bob corrected her. "No one could have stopped him. He probably planned suicide from the beginning."

"Violet, sweetie," Helen said, "when we go up against the bad guys, usually it's business. We like what we do, we're proud of what we do, but between us and criminals, it's not personal, so emotions like hate and anger don't enter into it. This time, it was personal. He threatened your friends, your teacher, your boyfriend. So, you reacted, and the thought crossed your mind: I want to kill this bastard. You couldn't help that thought, it just happened. It's happened to your father, and it's happened to me."

"When?", Violet asked.

Bob answered immediately. "When Syndrome shot your airplane down."

Violet remembered that. Her father had been captured and forced to listen to the whole incident on the radio. After they were all back safe at home, Violet had overheard her father and mother talking. When he thought his family was dead, he grabbed Syndrome's girlfriend, Mirage, and threatened to kill her. She also remembered that when Syndrome called his bluff, he couldn't do it.

"You see, honey," Bob continued, "It's not thoughts that make you good or bad, it's action. And in the end, your action was that you did the best you could. That's all you can ever do."

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I hope no one minds too much that Kari is OOC. In my defense, being shot can make anyone's personality change, and I preferred using an already known friend of Violet's to bringing in a new character.


	5. Back at School

The high school opened for business two weeks later. It was decided that the school would have a half day for the students' first day back. Everyone was still a little shaken up, but ready to get back to work. When Violet got to school, she had a few minutes before class started, and headed for Mrs. Hogle's classroom. The room itself was locked. The school felt that no one was ready to use it yet, plus it was still technically a crime scene. However, outside the door, there was a small shrine with Calvin's yearbook picture from last year. There were a few flowers and notes there already, and Violet added the bouquet she had brought. Mrs. Hogle came up to stand next to her. Violet smiled at her in greeting, and looked at the shrine again. "Thank you to doing this," she said.

Mrs. Hogle was surprised. "Oh, I didn't do this. Didn't you know?"

Violet turned to face the teacher. 'I assumed…"

"Well, I was going to, when he called and told me he wanted to."

"Who?"

"Tony Rydinger."

"What?" Just then, Violet saw Tony, at his locker a couple of doors down. He seemed to be just hanging out.

Violet excused herself and walked over to him. She didn't say anything, but just smiled.

"What?" Tony finally said.

"I was just thinking what a great guy I have for a boyfriend."

"What brought you to that conclusion?"

"You know," Violet said, nodding towards the shrine. When Tony tried to play dumb, she continued. "Mrs. Hogle told me."

Tony looked annoyed. "I asked her not to do that." Looking at Violet's smiling face again and feeling a little sheepish, he said, "Well, I guess I thought somebody should, and, well, I guess I'm sorry about how things turned out. If you thought of him as a friend, I guess he couldn't have been all bad."

Violet hugged him. "You're a good boyfriend."

"I know."

They walked over to the shrine, where another student had left a small card. They stood in front of it for a minute, then Violet spotted Kari and waved to her. Kari waved back, but walked on to her class without stopping to talk. Violet noticed that her hand didn't have the bandage on it anymore, but she still flexed it, as if there was some lingering pain that just wouldn't go away. She hugged Tony close to her and they set off for class.

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Finito! Thank you all for reading, and please tell me what you think.


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